Has anyone made their own seitan?

BlueLikeJazz
BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
edited September 21 in Food and Nutrition
I've recently cut out animal products but am trying to limit my soy consumption to no more than 2 servings a day of organic soy products. Therefore, my protein intake isn't quite where it should be. I've never tried seitan, but I do know it's a great source of protein. I have seen numerous "how to's" online for making it on your own. Has anyone ever tried to make their own? Any tips?

I'm going to try to find vital wheat gluten in the natural foods section at the market but otherwise I will be using whole wheat flour.

Replies

  • July24Lioness
    July24Lioness Posts: 2,399 Member
    I have not tried it, but have heard good things.

    Hemp protein is fabulous, nutritious, maybe give it a try.
  • sgcorrie
    sgcorrie Posts: 22 Member
    I've made it!!

    I've always made it with VWG, so I can't help you on the whole wheat front. There are certain recipes that work better for me than others.

    This is an excellent recipe to start out with, it's completely fool proof.

    http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15959
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I've made it!!

    I've always made it with VWG, so I can't help you on the whole wheat front. There are certain recipes that work better for me than others.

    This is an excellent recipe to start out with, it's completely fool proof.

    http://www.postpunkkitchen.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=15959

    Hilarious. I was just going to come to the forum and see if anyone was interested in a seitan recipe because the one in the link above is GREAT! Today was my very first foray into making seitan, having been a fan of it in Asian dishes for years. Anyway, I decided that I didn't feel like messing with simmering the seitan in broth so a Google search for "baked seitan" revealed the above thread. Flavorful, easy and CHEAP (when compared to animal protein, at least).

    I've recently (as of this weekend) decided to get rid of the animal protein in my diet too, so I think this recipe will be in heavy rotation. The only thing was that I don't quite see why it would need to be baked for 90 minutes. I took it out 20 minutes early and probably could have taken it out even sooner. Maybe my oven is just hot.

    Oh, and I think you can buy vital wheat gluten from Bob's Red Mill online. You can of course make your own from whole wheat flour, which would be cheaper, but 20 minutes of washing in just sounds like so much wasted water to me.
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
    Hey, thanks for replying ladies! I ended up making it yesterday before anyone had replied and just used the recipe on the Arrowhead Mills box of Vital Wheat Gluten I bought. It turned out great!

    The only part that could have been a big issue was that I made the whole box and put it all in one huge pot. It was lucky for me that I used the huge pot because the way it expanded probably would have overflowed my smaller one. The other thing I found was that if you simmer it, you need to squeeze out your "cutlets" after they've cooled and sat in a colander for a while. Otherwise they were a bit too juicy.

    Today I marinated a couple of them in lemon pepper marinade for a few minutes then threw them on the George Foreman grill, they turned out great!

    I will have to try this recipe next time, see if I can avoid some of the over-juiciness that way.

    By the way, I'm loving the Post Punk Kitchen website. I came upon it today when I was looking for veggie sushi recipes and my sushi turned out awesome!
  • BlueLikeJazz
    BlueLikeJazz Posts: 219 Member
    Oops, I also wanted to say: the more I thought about using whole wheat flour instead of the VWG, the more I realized that cost-wise, it's probably about the same. By the time you buy a 5 lb bag of flour and wash most of it down the drain, you'll probably get about the same amount of gluten as you would paying a similar price for the VWG.

    Okay so now you'll have to keep sharing with me all different ways you use your seitan because I have 10 cutlets to go through! (froze half though) I'm thinking I might whip up a seitan curry tomorrow :D
  • sgcorrie
    sgcorrie Posts: 22 Member
    I like to throw it into stir fries and pasta dishes. You could also try to look up a seitan cutlet or stroganoff recipe.
  • Jane1848
    Jane1848 Posts: 19 Member
    I've made seitan by boiling it--it was more work than I thought it was worth. But I'm glad to see this baked recipe, and I think I'll give seitan-making another try now.

    From the photos, it looks like the texture of a Tofurky roast. My (non-vegan) boyfriend loves those. :smile:
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I've made seitan by boiling it--it was more work than I thought it was worth. But I'm glad to see this baked recipe, and I think I'll give seitan-making another try now.

    From the photos, it looks like the texture of a Tofurky roast. My (non-vegan) boyfriend loves those. :smile:

    I've never had Tofurky roast, so I can't say, but the stuff I baked definitely did have a denser texture than most seitan that I've had in restaurants (which I am assuming is boiled).
  • Jane1848
    Jane1848 Posts: 19 Member
    I've made seitan by boiling it--it was more work than I thought it was worth. But I'm glad to see this baked recipe, and I think I'll give seitan-making another try now.

    From the photos, it looks like the texture of a Tofurky roast. My (non-vegan) boyfriend loves those. :smile:

    I've never had Tofurky roast, so I can't say, but the stuff I baked definitely did have a denser texture than most seitan that I've had in restaurants (which I am assuming is boiled).

    This sounds good. Have you tried freezing your baked version?
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I've made seitan by boiling it--it was more work than I thought it was worth. But I'm glad to see this baked recipe, and I think I'll give seitan-making another try now.

    From the photos, it looks like the texture of a Tofurky roast. My (non-vegan) boyfriend loves those. :smile:

    I've never had Tofurky roast, so I can't say, but the stuff I baked definitely did have a denser texture than most seitan that I've had in restaurants (which I am assuming is boiled).

    This sounds good. Have you tried freezing your baked version?

    I have not. It disappeared too fast. My boyfriend used it on sandwiches all last week.
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    I know this is an old thread, but I found it through search because I was looking for a seitan receipe - definitely trying the baked recipe tonight!! Thanks!
  • Happyoceangirl
    Happyoceangirl Posts: 1,993 Member
    Okay, late to the game. What is seitan?
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    It's a low carb, low fat, high protein meat substitute that's made primarily from wheat gluten. (Obviously not recommended for those with gluten intolerance!) It can be used a million different ways - just as versatile as tofu (if not more so).
  • Mindful_Trent
    Mindful_Trent Posts: 3,954 Member
    Oops. I didn't realize that "nutritional yeast" was not the same thing as normal yeast used for breads, etc. Needless to say, my first batch came out... interesting. Very bread-like. :laugh: Will try again tomorrow after I pick up the right kind of yeast!
  • Happyoceangirl
    Happyoceangirl Posts: 1,993 Member
    Huh. Meat substitute. Interesting. :wink:

    Better luck with your next batch!
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